5 minute read
Sea Foodies
As competition has heated up, many cruise lines have revamped their menus and venues, introduced new celebrity chefs, and optimized their culinary classes to include chef-hosted food market excursions.
Let’s come clean right now and admit that our cruise vacations are often chosen for their menu offerings and onboard mixology. With that in mind, we contacted our favorite providers to see what new seafaring dining experiences they’ve cooked up for us this year.
Oceania Aquamar Vitality Cuisine
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Blu, Celebrity Aquaclass
RECIPE RECETTE
The Taste of Wellness
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Aboard Oceania cruises, new Aquamar Vitality Cuisine includes surprisingly satisfying plant-based options and whole food dishes, such as the Osaka power bowl made with soba noodles, veggies, and a tangy orange-miso glaze. Each new day starts strong with energizing breakfasts like berry-topped oatmeal banana pancakes. Before bedtime, vodka-marinated Strawberries Romanoff make for the sweetest of dreams. In Blu, the exclusive restaurant for Celebrity’s AquaClass® guests, a “clean, crisp, and inventive” new menu ensures post-massage meals keep the healthy vibes flowing. BOOK LIVRE
S.A.L.T. Lab
Cooking Classes at Sea
Sailing on Seven Seas Splendor, we discovered 16 new cooking classes from which to choose. World of Flavor features street food classics like Belgian waffles and Israeli falafel. Sensuous Spain reveals the art of creating a multi-sensory tapas array. Batter Up is all about doughy delights like French crepes, Tuscan flatbread, and Turkish fritters.
In Silversea’s new S.A.L.T. Lab, guests prepare dishes with local market ingredients and learn from regional experts. Maya Kerthyasa, a member of Ubud’s royal family, shares her grandmother’s Balinese recipes. And Filipino-American Chef Nicole Ponseca prepares sarsa na uyang, a grilled chili shrimp dish unique to Romblon Island.
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INTERVIEW ENTREVUE
The Menu is the Journey
Aboard Celebrity Beyond, La Voyage by Chef Daniel Boulud takes us on a global culinary journey with dishes like curried cauliflower soup; mushroom risotto with garlic, parsley, and parmesan; and sea bass with za’atar—an earthy Middle Eastern blend of oregano, thyme, sumac, and sesame seeds.
Princess Chef Table
Around the Chef’s Table
“Chef’s Tables” are private affairs held for a small group of passengers in a separate room or in front of the kitchen, where all the action happens. These intimate dinners offer the opportunity to spend time with loved ones or make new acquaintances.
The Master Chef’s Table on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam welcomes 18 guests to an extravagant seven-course meal, served with wine pairings. Presented on glamorous Versace china, choices include over-the-top delicacies like pan-seared foie gras; veal with sweetbreads and black truffles; and decadent chocolate pastries with port.
Princess’ Chef’s Table dinner starts in the kitchen where guests tour the galley while sipping Champagne. A regionally-inspired menu is hosted by the chef and features satisfying dishes like wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil and “Surf ’n Turf” with lobster, beef tenderloin, and lamb.
Hobnobbing with Chefs
Eating local is one of the great joys of cruising. Seeing the ingredients in their natural habitats makes the experience even richer. This year, special market tour excursions present the opportunity to shop local food markets in the company of a chef to learn how ingredients are selected. Back on board, those same ingredients are transformed into delicious dishes.
Windstar offers a chef-led market tour on every sailing. Guests pick up saffron, rice, and fresh oranges in Valencia’s magnificent Art Nouveau market. In Vietnam, Hoi An’s Central Market is the place to buy fish and gather rice noodles, greens, and pork for the city’s legendary cao lau.
On Oceania’s Culinary Discovery Tours, guests peruse local food markets, vineyards, or farms. Then they gather for cooking demonstrations and classes in scenic settings, such as a Venetian chef’s private villa or a tropical plantation in French Polynesia. VIDEO VIDÉO
Windstar Market Tours
TASTE THE ESSENCE OF THE CULTURE
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BOOK LIVRE
Discover the Moorish heritage of Spain in paella, the terroir of Tuscany in delicious prosciutto, and the wild celebration of fl avor in Alaskan king crab. No matter what destination calls your name, the local culture is deliciously refl ected in the meals you enjoy on Windstar, the o cial cruise line of the James Beard Foundation. Fresh, local ingredients – often selected by your yacht’s chef on a trip to the local market – go into every perfectly presented dish. It’s just one more way we help you devour local life and community, and whet your appetite for travel. This is Windstar – private yacht style cruising with only 148 to 342 guests – 180 degrees from ordinary.
Call your Ensemble Travel Advisor today for all-inclusive value and exclusive extras.
